For the past six years, it has been my honor to represent the diverse and unique communities that make up the best Assembly District in California. I have worked hard to expand educational opportunities, keep our communities safe and hold state government accountable. It has been a learning experience every day and I couldn't have done it without you.

I am proud to say that throughout my time in the Legislature, I had 38 bills signed into law and I remain committed to helping in any way I can. Look for me at council meetings and on the soccer field, helping to preserve our open spaces and leading the charge for affordable higher education for all Californians.

My time with the California State Assembly ends November 30, and a new chapter begins. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been able to represent you. My wife, Ellen and I, and our daughters Sofia and Bella feel blessed to be a part of this wonderful community. I want to take a moment to wish you the best and to thank you for all that you have done to make the 44th Assembly District a special place to live.

"Diverse and unique communities?" Doesn't anybody represent plain old Americans and Californians anymore? I recall in reading several biographies of Theodore Roosevelt that he had a concern about what he called "hyphenated Americans" such as German-Americans, Polish-Americans and any group that took its identity from any racial, ethnic, class or political heritage or affiliations, rather than being Americans. Roosevelt was carping about such things back to 1902 up to his death in 1919. Roosevelt also warned Europe and America about the declining birth rate as being problematic to western civilization. Given the loss of life in WWI (37 Million, 16 Million dead, 20 Million wounded) where nearly an entire generation of Europeans died, his concern was well founded. Given the enormous loss of life that followed a scant two decades later during WWII (60 Million killed, or 2.5% of the world population) human potential suffered a tremendous blow from a denuded gene pool. What possibilities existed for accelerated human accomplishment, through the birth of exceptional individuals, were at a stroke removed.

Portantino is a symptom of the advanced state of political decay caused by progressive policies that have evolved into a cultural Marxism that considers ethnicity and economic class the qualifiers to secure human rights. In their view, only certain population segments are qualified to receive the benefit of civil rights and economic largess at the expense of the rights and prosperity of others. This narrow view is exactly the formula that leads to balkanization, societal collapse, civil war and genocide. We have entered into the age of incompetence, mediocrity and extreme demagoguery, no doubt due, in large part, to that loss of human potential. Population dynamics will eventually correct the impairment, but in the meantime we face a period similar in nature to that of the medieval period after 1328 marked by loss of one-third of the world's population due to bubonic plague. In a highly technological age, this is extremely dangerous.

Portantino is a symptom of the advanced state of political decay caused by progressive policies that have evolved into a cultural Marxism that considers ethnicity and economic class the qualifiers to secure human rights. In their view, only certain population segments are qualified to receive the benefit of civil rights and economic largess at the expense of the rights and prosperity of others. This narrow view is exactly the formula that leads to balkanization, societal collapse, civil war and genocide. We have entered into the age of incompetence, mediocrity and extreme demagoguery, no doubt due, in large part, to that loss of human potential. Population dynamics will eventually correct the impairment, but in the meantime we face a period similar in nature to that of the medieval period after 1328 marked by loss of one-third of the world's population due to bubonic plague. In a highly technological age, this is extremely dangerous.